


Stars Like Glitter

by yell0wbutt0n



Series: Hold me, hold us [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Comfort, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Ocean, Other, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Stars, Walks On The Beach, also implied erisol kinda, eridan's a dick too but he'll get better lmao, however you wanna see it, maybe pale-ish, night sky, they're just friends here no romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 12:10:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18094043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yell0wbutt0n/pseuds/yell0wbutt0n
Summary: “You seem tense.”“I’m alwways tense.”Aradia tilts her head, brows turned up, and frowns slightly.“You seem hurt.”“The fuck are you talkin’ about? Howw wwould you knoww?”She gives a strange sad smile.





	Stars Like Glitter

Eridan typically doesn’t stray this far away from his hive on the beach, but he knows he’ll lose his mind if he spends one more night alone in his hive. He’s barefoot - terribly uncivilized, he thinks, but he likes the feeling of the soft, wet sand beneath his feet. The bottom of his cape gets wet as it drags along the rolling waves, but he doesn’t care. He adjusts his scarf to protect his neck and gills from the chilling wind.  
  
He looks down, mesmerized by his grey feet squishing into the sand, careful to avoid sticks and washed-up seashells. Seashells. Feferi would like those, he thinks. But if he were to collect any and give them to her, she’d likely scold him for continuing to make advances after their moirallegiance ended. He blinks away the thought and keeps walking.  
  
He’s far off from any city or town he knows of. The only sounds are the whisper of evening breezes and the gentle rolling of waves. That’s why he’s surprised when out of his peripheral vision, he spots another troll, sitting down and facing the sea.  
  
Eridan stops with a small startled gasp. The troll must have heard him, as she turns her head and looks up at him, her red lips curling into a smile. She has all-too familiar long, curly hair, and intriguing large curling horns that resemble a baabeast’s. His eyes glance down to the rust symbol on her shirt, and can’t help but scowl. He didn’t expect anyone to be on this beach with him, let alone a rustblood.  
  
“Eridan?” she says, and he’s all too confused until he realizes he actually vaguely recognizes her. He’s seen her once or twice with Vriska during a FLARPing session, but he never bothered to remember her name. They had never spoken before, either; she was usually with Vriska or their other lowblood friends. He never understood why Vriska associated herself with such commoners; perhaps he was simply bitter that she had been spending less time with him in general.  
  
“Wwhat are you doin’ here?” Eridan says in a voice that is low and raspy from lack of use. He clears his throat and straightens his shoulders.  
  
“There’s a nice view of the stars here, where they’re not hidden by city lights. And the way they reflect on the ocean is beautiful, too, don’t you think? Like glitter.”  
  
He scoffs, raising a brow. Who does she think she is, making conversation with him? But for reasons he hates to think about, he can’t bring himself to ignore her completely and keep walking.  
  
The girl stands up, brushes sand off of her torn, grey skirt, and offers a hand. “We haven’t formally met. I’m Aradia Megido.”  
  
He looks down at her small, dirt-covered hand with annoyance, reluctantly shaking it.  
  
She sits back down, her gaze fixed towards the sea. Eridan believes the conversation is over and begins walking past her, until he hears her voice once more.  
  
“What are _you_ doing out here?”  
  
He looks over his shoulder. “Excuse me?”  
  
“You asked what I was doing, so I figured I’d ask you as well. Sunrise is in just a few hours, after all.”  
  
“None a’ your fuckin’ business, rusty.”  
  
Eridan hates the look Aradia gives him - her eyes flicker concern rather than the anger or offense he was expecting.  
  
“Are you alright?” she asks.  
  
Eridan commits to turning his entire body so he faces her, standing a few yards away. He crosses his arms. “Huh?”  
  
“Something’s bothering you.”  
  
Eridan is taken aback slightly, but keeps his scowl as he furrows his brows. “How the hell wwould you knoww?”  
  
“You seem tense.”  
  
“I’m alwways tense.”  
  
Aradia tilts her head, brows turned up, and frowns slightly.  
  
“You seem hurt.”  
  
“The fuck are you talkin’ about? Howw wwould you knoww?”  
  
She gives a strange sad smile. “That’s what they tell me. They’re usually right about these sort of things.”  
  
“Who the _hell_ are ‘they’? Just wwhat the fuck are you talkin’ about?”  
  
She ignores the question as she looks into his eyes. “Is something on your mind?”  
  
Eridan presses his lips together, looking away from her and towards the sea.  
  
“None a’ your concern. Leawe me alone.”  
  
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to intrude on your personal life. If you want me to leave you alone, I will, but only if that’s what you genuinely want.”  
  
“Wwhat do you mean?” He feels like he’s repeating himself.  
  
“Sollux always tells me that he’s okay and he doesn’t want to talk about it, when he _isn't_ okay and _does_ want to talk about it. I get the feeling you’re similar.”  
  
Eridan’s eyes widen slightly as he straightens his back. “...Sol? You knoww Sol?”  
  
She nods, smiling again. “We’re quadrantmates.”  
  
He holds his breath, blinking slowly. _Sollux_ , of all people, managed to find someone who could tolerate his annoying ass for more than two seconds. _Sollux_ was able to get a matesprit. Or moirail? She didn’t specify, and he doesn’t want to ask.  
  
“I’m always willing to lend an ear to a friend,” she continues.  
  
Friend?  
  
No, he knows better than to trust that sort of fake kindness so easily. He wants to kick himself for almost believing her in the first place. Her smile, the compassion in her eyes, none if it could be true. There was no reason for it to be.  
  
“Wwhy are you actin’ like you giwe a shit about me?”  
  
“Because I do.”  
  
“ _Wwhy?_ I’m a fuckin’ dick.”  
  
She laughs. “I can see that. But Sollux is, too, to people he doesn’t trust. If you’re anything like him, I know you’re not really as bad as you think you are.”  
  
“Wwould you quit actin’ like you knoww me or somethin’? Wwe’vve been speakin’ for ten lousy minutes and you’re already actin’ like you got me all figured out. You _don’t._ ”  
  
“You’re right. I don’t. But Sollux talks about you a lot, so you’re not necessarily a stranger to me.”  
  
Oh.  
  
“...Sol… talks about me..?” He swallows, despising the warmth he feels in his face.  
  
She laughs, her teeth shining brightly. “Admittedly, he doesn’t say the kindest things, but I’ve learned to read through his biases.”  
  
Eridan sighs, looking down.  
  
“Are you alright? You can tell me,” she says softly.  
  
Eridan stays silent. This is the first time in, who knows how long, that somebody was actually willing to hear about his feelings. His petty, overdramatic, attention-seeking feelings that don’t actually matter. He gives in and takes a few steps towards her and takes a seat, ignoring the sand and debris on his jeans. He crosses his legs, facing her.  
  
“My moirail broke up wwith me.”  
  
“Oh,” she says. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be. It wwas my fuckin’ fault to begin wwith.”  
  
“What makes you say that?”  
  
“I wwas just, just… a shit moirail. That’s all. I couldn’t do wwhat she needed me to do. I’m useless an’ can’t do shit for nobody. All I do is bring problems for evveryone.”  
  
Aradia frowns, placing a hand on his knee. “I’m sure you don’t cause problems.”  
  
“I do. I wwas alwways buggin’ her wwith pointless shit. She wwas right, I’m dramatic and theatrical an’ I did anythin’ for her attention. It wwas a miracle she put up wwith me for as long as she did."  
  
“If she thinks your feelings and problems are dramatic and theatrical, she doesn’t sound like a very good moirail.”  
  
Eridan opens his mouth but nothing comes out. He closes it slowly, staring down at the sand.  
  
“But that’s the past. Everything will be okay, now. Look forward and stay positive. Sollux thinks he’s a bad moirail for me, too, but he isn’t. I get the feeling that you’re the type to be overly critical of yourself.”  
  
Eridan scoffs. “Is Sol alright wwith you pale-flirtin’ wwith other trolls like this?”  
  
She chuckles, moving a curl out of her face. “He doesn’t get jealous easily. And besides, I wouldn’t call it pale-flirting. Just kindness.”  
  
Eridan bites his tongue, resisting the urge to bite it clean off. He’s pathetic, taking any act of attention as a romantic gesture. Not to mention the fact that this troll seems genuinely caring and he’s been nothing but rude and cynical towards her. Maybe he could have actually made a real friend if he wasn’t so stupid and self-conscious.  
  
“It’s alright,” she reassures him as if she knows what he’s thinking, which kind of freaks him out. “I know it’s hard right now, and that’s okay. But I’m confident that things will get better. Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.”  
  
“Wwhy are you so fuckin’ nice an’ positiwe?”  
  
Aradia shrugs, drawing squiggles in the wet sand with her fingers. “Life’s too short to focus on the bad things. You’ll never enjoy yourself that way. For every bad thing in the world, there’s a hundred good things.”  
  
Eridan gives a scoff that almost resembles a laugh. “I think your math’s off, there.”  
  
Aradia laughs again. She smiles a lot. Eridan doesn’t think he’s smiled once all day.  
  
Aradia turns her body to face the sea once again, and Eridan mimics her. They look out into the sky for several awkward moments - awkward to him, at least. Out of the corner of his eye, he gets a good look at her. Her hair is a tangled mess and her clothes are dirty, as if she’d spent the whole night outside. Her red lipstick is prominent, but if she was wearing any other makeup, she must have sweated it off; he see what he thinks is smeared red and black eyeshadow near her eyes. And yet as she looks out onto the sea, one with the peaceful waves, she looks so content. The moons cast pink and green glows, highlighting her focused, yet careless countenance. Maybe he could learn a thing or two from her.  
  
She then reaches into her pocket and hands him her palmhusk.  
  
“Um-”  
  
“Give me your number,” she says. “Do you want to go spelunking with me this weekend?”  
  
Eridan raises a brow, hesitantly typing his number into the new contact she’s made for him. “...Spelunkin’..? As in, cawes an’ shit? Are you on crack?”  
  
She laughs in a way that softens Eridan’s bloodpusher for just a moment. “It’s actually a lot of fun. Sollux usually joins me, but some game is coming out this weekend that he wants to play right away.”  
  
Before he realizes it, Eridan’s finished putting in his number and he slowly gives Aradia her palmhusk back. “...Sure. I guess. Wwhatewer.”  
  
“Great! I’ll text you sometime, then.”  
  
And without warning, she gets up, says goodbye, and dashes off behind him. He turns his neck and watches her, her hair and skirt flowing until her silhouette disappears into the night.  
  
He sighs, biting the inside of his cheek. He doesn’t know how he should be feeling right now. Eridan un-crosses his legs and straightens them out in front of him, the cool ocean water lapping at his ankles. He, too, notes the beauty of the stars’ shimmering reflection on the sea.  
  
It _is_ like glitter.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaa my first fic here! I plan on making a little series with Eridan, Sollux, and Aradia, so stay tuned :3c


End file.
